• Sunday 15 May 2005     12:39pm
  
  HARRY CARRY!
  
  
  Fury as wincing Prince is let off daily five-mile marches at Sandhurst
  
  By Dean Rousewell Royal Editor
  
  
  CADETS at Sandhurst are furious that Prince Harry has been let off
  gruelling runs - after he said his knee hurt.
  
  They complain the Prince, who has only been at the military academy
  for a week, is being given "soft" treatment because of his royal status.
  
  Harry, 20, moaned about his knee - originally crocked on a skiing
  holiday - after his first five-mile run on Monday, the day after his
  arrival.
  
  Since then officers have allowed him to stay behind while his fellow
  cadets put on their heavy backpacks and go out on the strenuous daily
  runs.
  
  One insider said: "He had an ice pack put on his knee on Monday
  evening because it had swelled a bit but it looked okay the next morning.
  
  "But he didn't have to go on the run with the other lads. And he
  hasn't been on one all week since. A few of the boys were well p****d
  off about it. They felt he shouldn't have joined up in the first place
  if his knee was still injured.
  
  It seems as if they've gone soft on him and everyone naturally assumes
  it's because of who he is."
  
  He said the Prince was due to start running again within the next few
  days, but cadets feared they would have to "carry" him if he was given
  preferential treatment.
  
  Harry aroused speculation over the seriousness of his injury after he
  was apparently fit enough to go skiing and surfing, and carousing at
  parties in the weeks before entering Sandhurst.
  
  The ligaments problem first came to light after he returned from a ski
  trip a year ago. Ironically, he aggravated it last summer when he
  tripped while running upstairs during the three-day entry test at
  Sandhurst.
  
  And he then made it worse when he twisted the same knee during a
  six-week spell coaching rugby to kids. Doctors strapped the joint and
  told him to avoid putting strain on it by riding horses and playing polo.
  
  But a scuffle with a photographer outside a London nightclub in
  October didn't help the healing process.
  
  Shortly afterwards it was announced Harry would not be starting at
  Sandhurst in January as planned, and it was postponed until May 8.
  
  But during the months of delay Harry caused raised eyebrows about the
  extent of his disability when he was seen SKIING, RIDING HORSES,
  PARTYING and SURFING in Africa with his blonde girlfriend Chelsy Davy.
  Some commentators wondered whether he was having second thoughts about
  joining up as his love for Chelsy, 19, grew ever stronger.
  
  Harry, known as Officer Cadet Wales, won't be able to see the stunning
  millionaire's daughter for weeks while at Sandhurst.
  
  But Harry - told to brush up on his computer skills before he enrolled
  - is said to be using the academy's computers for 15 minutes every day
  to exchange emails with her.
  
  A source said: "Harry always comes back from the computer room with a
  big smile on his face so she must be saying nice things to him.
  
  "He says it's the only chance he gets to communicate with Chelsy and
  he seems very fond of her." Harry is banned from leaving the barracks
  for the first five weeks of the 12-month course, not allowed any
  visitors, and mustn't touch alcohol.
  
  He is woken at 6am along with his 269 fellow cadets and has to help
  clean lavatories. A weekday curfew is enforced at midnight and there
  are also random drug tests.
  
  Last week Colonel Roy Parkinson said Harry had passed the Sandhurst
  pre-entry physical test with "no problem" and revealed he had managed
  to run a mile and a half within the required 10 minutes.
  
  He admitted the Prince had suffered "a twinge" in his knee but said he
  must be in "peak physical condition" to have been accepted.
  
  A spokesman for Prince Harry said: "We will not be making any comment
  on what the Prince is doing during his training at Sandhurst."
  
   

• 14th May 2005  13:38pm

  Should we feel sorry for Harry?
  By CHRISTOPHER WILSON, Daily Mail
  
  Prince Harry has had one hell of a week. First, there was his
  headline-making on the town with his minder which ended in a minor
  traffic accident at 4am and another PR blunder.
  
  Then there was his high-profile arrival at Sandhurst after which, once
  the social niceties and photo-opportunities were over, he was plunged
  into an awesomely tough military regime that he is clearly
  ill-prepared for after a gap year that has lasted for almost two.
  
  At the same time, he's seen his fragile reputation further tarnished -
  and his academic shortcomings exposed - as the details of his
  allegedly forged A-level art submission were aired in public at an
  employment tribunal involving one of his former teachers.
  
  Could it get any worse? Well, probably. The Prince, who will be 21 in
  September, and his new brothers-in-arms will be subjected to all
  manner of tests to their physique and courage in the coming months,
  tempers will be short once the day is done and the spit-and-polishing
  begins - and no prizes for guessing who will be first in the firing-line.
  
  For Harry got into Sandhurst on minimum qualifications - two A-levels
  - and if, as it is now being claimed, he is not entitled to one of
  them, he is equally not entitled to his place at Britain's top
  military academy.
  
  This fundamental point won't have escaped the officer cadets of
  Harry's company - Alamein - many of whom will have struggled to get to
  Sandhurst and know there will be no shortcuts and no preferment in
  their personal careers.
  
  They will have to struggle for a place in their regiment of choice as
  they watch the small amount of money they earn as cadets - their only
  income, in many cases - being swallowed up in the costly apparatus of
  becoming an officer.
  
  The right car and the right clothes cost more than many can really
  afford. Plus, there will already be a sneaking presentiment as to who
  of their intake is going to win the coveted Sword of Honour at their
  passing-out parade.
  
  So Officer Cadet Wales - younger, richer, and with a smart cavalry
  regiment already polishing its mess silver in readiness for his
  arrival - will, let us presume, not be universally popular.
  
  And no doubt in the contact sports and exercises he has already
  endured and in those to come, he will have encountered the same
  deliberately heavy 'collisions' and the same sarcastic remarks he
  endured from some quarters while at school.
  
  Fresh look at Harry
  
  Perhaps, therefore, it's an appropriate moment to take a fresh look at
  the young man, fourth in line to the throne, who has been so demonised
  as nothing more than an upper-class lout over the past two or three
  years. Why does he behave the way he does?
  
  To answer that question, one must go back more than ten years to when
  Diana, Princess of Wales, was still alive. In seeking to assert her
  preferences in all corners of her failing marriage, she chose Eton,
  the school of her father and brother, for Prince William over her
  husband's alma mater Gordonstoun. And because Prince William went
  there, so too should Harry.
  
  But when the Princess approached William's housemaster, Dr Andrew
  Gailey, to talk about her youngest son he gently warned that there
  could be problems ahead.
  
  Harry, he said, had learning difficulties which could prove
  devastating for him in a school where excellence is a byword, and
  where preferential treatment for bluebloods has long since
  disappeared. Charles and Diana went ahead anyway and Dr Gailey's fears
  were fulfilled.
  
  Where William proved a success, Harry had difficulty in keeping up
  from the start. Had Diana lived, she might well have been forced to
  the tough but ultimately sensible decision - one reached by many
  parents - to take her younger son out of Eton and place him somewhere
  where the culture was less competitive.
  
  But Diana died and Prince Charles - a loving but not a hands-on parent
  - had his attention focused elsewhere. Soon Harry was coming bottom or
  near-bottom in his classes, and was struggling badly.
  
  'He should not have gone to Eton'
  
  Is it any surprise, then, that sympathetic tutors, seeing his dilemma
  and foreseeing the humiliation of his A-level results (or lack of
  them) being publicly aired at the end of his school career, may have
  given the Prince a helping hand?
  
  The evidence presented at the tribunal hearing this week of former art
  mistress Sarah Forsyth - she is claiming unfair dismissal and sexual
  discrimination following her sacking two years ago - points, not to a
  conniving Harry eager to cheat his way to A-level success, but to a
  young boy desperately out of his depth and grateful for any help he
  could get.
  
  "He should not have gone to Eton, it's as simple as that," said one
  former courtier I spoke to this week. "From a security point of view
  it was convenient since his brother was already there.
  
  "And then there's the prestige, too. But the Prince of Wales should
  have been prepared to review the situation, and not just assume that
  because William sailed through so, too, would Harry."
  
  Perhaps Charles's distance from the boys was a factor in his failure
  to take Harry's plight more seriously. Indeed, I was told in 1997 by
  one of Charles's entourage that in the 365 days leading up to Diana's
  death the Prince had custody of his two boys for just 22 days.
  
  Charles never did discover the art of successful parenting
  
  This is now refuted by people associated with Diana, who claim the
  share was more evenly spread, but even they agree that when Charles
  did have the boys they would often be parked with their nanny Tiggy
  Legge-Bourke or with close friends of the Prince, such as Emilie van
  Cutsem.
  
  Charles never did discover the art of successful parenting but given
  his own upbringing that hardly comes as a surprise. "He needed to
  become father and mother to his boys after Diana died," I was told.
  "He never quite managed that."
  
  So here we have a picture of a small, vulnerable boy who loses his
  mother in a horrifying accident at the critical age of puberty and is
  thrust into a school whose standards are simply too high for him to
  achieve anything which would engender a very necessary sense of
  self-worth.
  
  At the same time, he must live with the media's never-ending obsession
  with Diana and a stream of often distasteful and highly embarrassing
  revelations about her life from friends, former Palace employees and
  lovers.
  
  Then there is the bitter feeling between the Spencers and Windsors
  that poisoned relations with his mother's family.
  
  Harry's anger
  
  With this background it is, easier to understand where, and why,
  things have gone wrong for Harry - for psychologists argue that a lack
  of self-worth often manifests itself in anger and erratic behaviour.
  
  Certainly, he had plenty to be angry about - growing up without a
  mother and with a hands-off father, left to his own devices for days
  on end at Highgrove while forever being reminded by his peers just how
  privileged his life is.
  
  To that mixture add some further ingredients: the fact that perhaps he
  chose his friends unwisely. And that perhaps, through his mother, he
  inherited that Spencer waywardness which runs through the family like
  the lettering through a stick of Blackpool rock.
  
  Put it all altogether and we arrive at a mixed-up young man who, it
  would be fair to say, stands only an even chance of pulling off an
  Army career - one bears in mind the chill warning of Sandhurst's
  commandant, Major General Andrew Ritchie, who cautioned: "I view
  misbehaving very dimly.
  
  "I have removed certain cadets when their behaviour is not the
  standard of an officer, and I would do so again. He is the same as
  everyone else."
  
  If Harry does manage to survive the first "five weeks of hell", as
  Sandhurst so proudly describes it, will it, in the end, be the making
  of him?
  
  Navy a better choice - former courtier
  
  The former courtier I spoke to did not hold out too much hope. "He is
  going to a cavalry regiment, and cavalry regiments are not exactly the
  future," I was told. "The officers perpetuate the class system, and
  their attitudes and views generally are Colonel Blimpish to put it mildly.
  
  "They may be good soldiers, but they are snobbish and aloof, and bound
  up in themselves -they seem to take a special pleasure in it.
  
  "It would have served the Royal Family's purpose much better if he had
  chosen the Royal Navy, which is pretty classless these days and where
  there is a true sense of mutual support through all ranks."
  
  But, the courtier added, Harry had idolised Captain James Hewitt
  during the soldier's affair with Princess Diana, and it was at that
  early age that he decided that a cavalry officer was a good thing to be.
  
  Hewitt - a good soldier, if a flawed personality - encouraged the
  young Prince in his ambitions.
  
  We must wait and see whether it was, in the end, a good career choice
  or whether Harry might have been better employed working, say, for the
  Duchy of Cornwall while acquiring a bigger portfolio of charity work.
  
  He has already demonstrated a certain promise through his work -
  albeit orchestrated by Clarence House with the very particular aim of
  rehabilitating the Prince in the eyes of the public - with Aids
  orphans in Africa.
  
  Harry has not yet blown it
  
  There is, his friends would argue, a great deal that is good about
  Prince Harry. And what seems bad in the Prince - drinking, taking soft
  drugs, that senseless Nazi prank - are taken for the norm in many
  middle-class households these days, even if parents have loftier
  ambitions for their children.
  
  Harry has not yet blown it. But perhaps Prince Charles should bear in
  mind the example of his greatuncle Prince George, Duke of Kent.
  
  George, every bit as glamorous in the 1920s as Harry is today, was
  virtually ignored by his father George V.
  
  Although he started out on a service career, drink and drugs were soon
  his undoing: he had been idle for too long in his youth and had the
  time to seek out the distractions which would keep him from the
  boredom he dreaded.
  
  Harry, too, without constant supervision - and intervention - by
  Prince Charles could easily become bored with the prospect of the
  royal life ahead of him.
  
  Now that his father is married to the woman he's loved for more than
  30 years, surely it is time for him to pay closer attention to a
  man-child still desperately in need of guidance?
  
  The awesome Major General Ritchie warned parents last Sunday of the
  struggles ahead for their children.
  
  "Expect the odd anguished phone call," he told them.
  
  He might, however, have saved his breath in Prince Charles's case:
  this week Papa had been on retreat, in an isolated Romanian monastery,
  blissfully far beyond the reach of telecommunication.

   

• 16 May 2005

   

HARRY TO ENJOY HIS 1ST LEAVE WITH LOVE
By Jane Kerr, Daily Mirror

PRINCE Harry is to enjoy a romantic weekend with his girlfriend at
Highgrove when he gets his first break from Army officer training.

Prince Charles has given his blessing for stunning blonde Chelsy
Davy, 19, to stay at his country home next month after realising how
much his son is missing her since starting Sandhurst last Monday.

One insider said: "Charles is fully aware of how much Harry has
fallen for Chelsy and he knows they love each other very much.

"He was worried Harry would pull out of going to Sandhurst because
he was saying how much he would miss Chelsy, so Charles was relieved
when he went there.

"Now he wants to reward Harry for doing well by letting Chelsy stay
with him at Highgrove when he gets his first break next month."

Zimbabwean-born Chelsy, who has been seeing Harry for more than a
year, is planning to fly in from her home in South Africa for a long
weekend.

Harry, 20, has been sending loving emails to the multi-millionaire's
daughter from an academy computer, which he is allowed to use for 15
minutes a day.

The prince has been told he can't socialise for the first five weeks
of his training, so he won't get a break before June 13.

 

PRINCE WILLIAM ON FIRST OFFICIAL ENGAGEMENT

http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk

 

Prince William has been invited by the British and Irish Lions rugby team to join them on their tour to New Zealand in July 2005.

While he is there, the Prince will also undertake two official engagements representing Her Majesty The Queen in Wellington and Auckland at events to commemorate the end of the Second World War.

The invitation to support the Lions came from Sir Clive Woodward, Head Coach of the touring party, and is for the Prince to spend time with them in the build-up to the second and third Tests against New Zealand, and attend both games.

Sir Clive said: "I am delighted that Prince William will be spending some time with us. It will be a great boost for the team as he is a great supporter of the game. He is going to be with the team for certain periods and it all adds to the sense of occasion around these key Tests."

Prince William, who is currently studying for his final examinations at St Andrew's University, will join the Lions squad for the second and third Test matches in Wellington and Auckland, at the beginning of July.

 

• 22 May 2005

William snubs the British Olympic bid
By Bernard Ginns - Mail on Sunday

PRINCE WILLIAM has been accused of `putting pleasure over duty' by
choosing to watch rugby rather than help Britain's £30million effort
to bring the 2012 Games to London.

The Mail on Sunday can reveal that earlier this year, bid leader
Lord Coe asked Clarence House if the 22-year-old Prince could attend
the crucial meeting in Singapore this July where members of the
International Olympics Committee will cast their final vote.
William was invited because it was felt his presence could win over
wavering IOC delegates flattered by an audience with Britain's
future King and help to trump the bid by arch rival Paris.

But The Mail on Sunday has been informed that officials at Clarence
House told the bid team, London 2012, that it would be difficult for
William to attend and that the Prince had to concentrate on his
final university examinations at St Andrews.

Last week, however, it was announced that during the week of the key
meeting William will be in New Zealand for an 11-day trip to watch
the British Lions' rugby tour. In what is being billed as his
first `solo' overseas tour, the Prince will attend two of the
British and Irish Lions Test Matches against the All Blacks on July
2 and 9 and join the team at their training camp.

A couple of official engagements – where he will represent the Queen
at wreath-laying commemorations to mark the end of the Second World
War – have also been scheduled, although these were added after the
rugby trip was arranged.
The snub to the Olympic bid was attacked by Ian Davidson MP, a
Labour member of the Commons Public Accounts Committee. He said: `It
would appear Prince William has chosen pleasure over duty.
`In a tightly competed Olympic decision, his absence might cost
Britain the Games and that would
not set a particularly good precedent for his time as King.'

Officials at London 2012 are keen to play down the impact that the
Prince's absence could have on the final voting at Singapore which
takes place on July 6 and say it will not have an adverse effect.
But there can be no doubt that he could have given considerable
impetus to the bid effort.
Tessa Jowell, the Cabinet Minister in charge of the bid, commented
earlier this year: `Wouldn't it be wonderful if William joined the
contingent for Singapore?'
A source close to the Government added: `It is easy to see how
William could have been used. He represents a lot about youth and
the future of this country.'

Many believe the second in line to the throne could have charmed
delegates at the International Olympics Committee. Currently, the
French bid is favourite to win, ahead of entries from Madrid, Moscow
and New York.
After years of preparation, the days running up to the vote are
regarded as the final sprint in the lobbying process and the
difference between winning and losing cannot be gauged until the
very end.
Even Tony Blair will be going to Singapore to help try to clinch the
Games for London, The Mail on Sunday has been told.
Although he is expected to miss the actual vote because of the G8
summit in Gleneagles, the Prime Minister has changed his schedule to
ensure he can glad-hand IOC delegates.

William's failure to attend – despite being just a nine-hour flight
away from Singapore while he is in New Zealand – signals serious
doubts over his devotion to duty.
So far he has steadfastly refused to engage himself in public
engagements even though his father Charles was an old hand at them
by the age of 21.
William was criticised last summer for not attending the 60th
anniversary commemoration of D-Day, although Clarence House pointed
to an agreement that he would not carry out public duties until he
had finished his education.

To some observers, the vote in Singapore represented a perfect first
opportunity for William to help bring a real benefit to the country
he will one day reign over.
Damagingly, the stayaway may be interpreted by some delegates as a
further lack of support from the Royal Family after the Queen's
commitment was brought into question earlier this year. She
reportedly told a member of the public that she expected the French
bid to win.

The Prince will be joined for the tour by his private secretary, a
Press secretary, two Royal protection officers and an unnamed
friend, although it is understood it will not be William's
girlfriend Kate Middleton.
According to Government sources in New Zealand, other plans for the
visit include a day's skiing, and a whale-watching trip.
The party, which flies out on June 30 and returns on July 10, will
be accommodated at official residences in Auckland and Wellington.

Club class return flights to New Zealand cost in the region of
£5,000, bringing a total cost of around £30,000 although Clarence
House maintained that the Prince would be paying for his own
flights.
A source at Clarence House said: `We would not have told Lord Coe
that Prince William could not attend because of his final exams
because they would have finished. The decision following the
discussions was delayed because he was preparing for exams and we
didn't want to disturb him.'

Paddy Harveson, the Prince's communications secretary, told The Mail
on Sunday: `Prince William does support the London Olympic bid.
`He attended the Olympic reception at Buckingham Palace last year
and he will be looking to support the bid in various ways before the
event in Singapore. The Royal Family will be represented in

Singapore by the Princess Royal who is a member of the IOC.' When
asked why the Prince couldn't just go to Singapore, Mr Harveson
said: `All we are saying is that the Princess Royal will be
representing the Royal Family in Singapore.'

A spokeswoman for the British and Irish Lions, which will be joined
in New Zealand by former No 10 Press chief Alastair Campbell as a
consultant, said of the Prince's decision to join the tour: `It's
going to give a boost at an important time.'
Ian Davidson said: `I would very much hope that the funding of this
trip is investigated to clarify that the costs of his tours to rugby
games are not being funded by the taxpayer simply because a couple
of pretend official duties have been added.'


MoD in secret talks over Harry's role on the front line
By Christopher Leake
Mail on Sunday

SECRET talks have been held between Clarence House and the Ministry
of Defence to discuss whether Prince Harry will be allowed on the
front line when he graduates from Sandhurst.
The Prince's private secretary, former SAS officer Jamie Lowther-
Pinkerton, has held informal meetings with MoD officials to decide
if Harry should fight alongside his fellow soldiers.

The 20-year-old will become an officer after finishing cadet
training later this year and will then join a regiment, probably the
Household Cavalry, which saw action in Kosovo and Iraq.
It is understood Mr Lowther-Pinkerton and the MoD have also
discussed what role Prince William, also expected to join the Army,
would play in a conflict.

William, 22, is due to start at Sandhurst next year after completing
his geography degree at St Andrews University this summer.
Harry has insisted he should be treated like any other soldier and
both Princes have made clear they want to `do their bit' in the
Army.
But aides are concerned that if the second and third in line to the
throne are deployed to a combat area it could spark a constitutional
crisis if they were killed or seriously injured.

Senior Army officers say there are worries, too, that Harry's
colleagues could be placed in more
danger because of his presence alongside them.
A Clarence House source said last night: `You would be wrong to say
we've said Harry must never be in harm's way, but likewise you would
be wrong to say he has to go everywhere and do everything everyone
else does. But that's clearly what he wants.'

THE SOURCE added:`More than anything, it's the safety of those with
him. This is as much to do with the safety of his fellow soldiers
because it changes the nature of the target if a member of the Royal
Family is there.'

The Duke of York was a helicopter pilot on the carrier Invincible in
the Falklands War in 1982. He served with distinction, acting as a
decoy for Exocet missiles from Argentine ships. The Queen, who
served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service, was said to have been
horrified when she learned how close her son had been to death.
But as Army officers, William and Harry would be more exposed than
Andrew, whose helicopter could not be distinguished from any others.
They could be recognisable in battle, and would be a target for
enemies or insurgents such as those which attack Army convoys in
Iraq.

Senior military sources said last night that the debate over the
degree to which William and Harry would be permitted to fulfil their
roles was `reverberating' between Clarence House and the MoD.
Both have made clear to aides they want to serve alongside fellow
officers – rather than `marching up and down at Buckingham Palace
while their friends risk their lives'.
Harry is said to be keen to join the Household Cavalry if he passes
out as an officer later this year. William's preference is the Welsh
Guards, who are serving in Iraq.

Senior Royal sources confirmed last night that discussions had taken
place between Clarence House and the MoD, but insisted talks were at
an early stage.
They said it was `too crude' to suggest the talks had been held to
ensure that the Princes were never allowed to go into `harm's way'.
But the sources admitted that the discussions were aimed at
formulating an `operational policy' allowing the brothers to behave
as normally as possible should they enter a danger zone. Sources
close to William and Harry, who are continuing a Royal tradition of
military service, revealed that the Queen and Prince Charles would
have their say before any policy was decided.

PRINCE PHILIP was mentioned in dispatches in the Battle of Matapan
in 1942. While under fire, he remained in control of the battleship
Valiant's searchlights.
More recently, Prince Charles was commander of the minesweeper
Bronnington and successfully shadowed a Soviet submarine that had
strayed into the Channel.
The Earl of Wessex had a less illustrious military career. He failed
the Royal Marines commando course because he found it too tough.

The last Royal to lead men into battle was George II. The
sabrewaving monarch headed 50,000 troops against the French at the
Battle of Dettingen in 1743.
His horse bolted when it was frightened by an exploding shell, and
the King, a General, spent several hours hiding under a tree until
rescued by soldiers. As a reward, he gave each man a leaf from the
tree.

A Clarence House spokesman said last night: `We never comment on
private discussions.
`If and when William and Harry are serving in the Armed Forces, it
is a matter of strict policy that we would never comment on
operational matters.'
The MoD declined to comment, adhering to its policy of not
discussing operational security matters

 

 A candlelit dinner for the Prince, Kate...and Dad
Mail on Sunday

PRINCE CHARLES is to host a candlelit dinner for William and his long-
term girlfriend Kate Middleton the night before their graduation, The
Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Kate's parents Michael and Carole have also been invited to the
celebration, the day after William's 23rd birthday.

The Queen and Prince Philip will attend the ceremony at St Andrews
University on June 23 – when William will graduate in geography and
Kate in the History of Art – and later perform a walkabout in the
town. William has become openly affectionate with 23-year-old Kate in
recent months. They met during their first weeks at St Andrews, where
they share a secluded country house on the outskirts of the Scottish
university town, with friends. The Prince has also revealed that they
will spend a relaxing summer holiday together to celebrate the end of
four years of studying